Kessel, Kalus employ two different styles

Tuesday

Sep 26, 2006 at 6:00 AM

By Bud Barth TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

They’ve been lumped together as the best of the Special K Kids, but rookie forwards Phil Kessel and Petr Kalus — both of whom appear to have cracked the Bruins’ season-opening lineup — are actually quite different as hockey players.

Kessel is lightning fast with a fearsome hair-trigger shot and a flamboyant style, including offensive skills not often seen in a kid his age (he turns 19 next Monday).

Kalus, also 19, is cut from more of a blue-collar cloth, an aggressive forechecker with something of an edge to his game, who skates his wing reliably and is hard to knock off the puck.

Both survived yesterday’s cutdown from 36 healthy players to 24, and it’s likely both still will be around after any last-minute roster tinkering.

“I’m so happy; I worked hard for this,” Kalus, a native of the Czech Republic, said in his halting English after yesterday’s practice at Ristuccia Arena. “I’m just focusing on how I can play best, and we’ll see.”

Kalus, listed as a right wing, has been used mostly on the left side in preseason, picking up one assist in three games. The 6-foot-1, 186-pounder was impressive at training camp here last year, too, but couldn’t stick. Instead, he wound up playing his first season of Canadian junior hockey for the Regina Pats of the WHL, leading the team in goals (36) and points (58) in 60 games.

“My goal before the camp was to make (the) team,” said Kalus, a high second-round draft pick in 2005, who signed a three-year contract in May. “I worked hard, every shift, shift to shift, practice to practice, game to game.”

There still seems to be some confusion over where Kalus would play if he doesn’t survive the final cut. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli insists Kalus would have to be returned to his junior team because of the WHL’s agreement with the NHL, but Kalus said yesterday he was told again by his agent just “a couple of days ago” that he could play in the AHL for Providence because he was drafted while playing in Europe, not the WHL.

It’s an important point since Kalus could be sent down and then recalled from Providence, but he might as well be on another planet if he returns to Saskatchewan.

Fortunately for the Bruins, Kalus is making the decision for them with his play.

“He’s a determined, dogged-type player,” Lewis said. “He’s on the puck, he’s a forechecker. They (Kessel and Kalus) are different type players. Kessel has more flair for the dynamic, moving the puck and flashy, where this kid (Kalus) is up and down, hard-working. When he has the puck, it’s hard to get it away from him.”

Lewis, who isn’t afraid to experiment, has talked about using 6-foot-9 defenseman Zdeno Chara down low on the power play where he can muscle in front of the net for tip-ins and screen opposing goalies. Lewis already has decided to put a career defenseman, 6-4 Wade Brookbank, at forward for many of the same reasons. Thankfully, though, the coach doesn’t sound crazy about the idea of placing Patrice Bergeron at the point on power plays, something tried occasionally (and unsuccessfully) last season by then-coach Mike Sullivan.

Noting that he has plenty of bodies — Chara, Brad Stuart, Paul Mara, Jason York, Nathan Dempsey and Milan Jurcina — to man the point, Lewis said of Bergeron: “I think he moves well down low; I think he reacts well, he finds open ice, and he’s not afraid to go to the net. Those things are important, too.”

Lewis also paid Bergeron the ultimate compliment, saying: “In my mind, right now, he can play any situation, against anybody, and be successful doing it. And that’s quite a compliment for a 21-year-old.”

It’s sort of silly the way Lewis and general manager Peter Chiarelli continue to extol the innate leadership skills of Chara, and then act as though the identity of the team’s future captain is some deep, dark secret. Let’s be clear about this: The only unknown is when, not if, Chara will have the “C” stitched on his sweater. Lewis said yesterday the call probably will be made a couple of days before next week’s Oct. 6 season opener. … Despite the many line combinations employed so far, Glen Murray and Marc Savard — the goal-scoring tandem earmarked for the No. 2 line — have played together in the only two games where both suited up, teaming up for one goal. … Through five games, Tim Thomas has the superior goaltending stats (five periods, 2-0 record, 1.20 goals-against, .960 save percentage), and yet it’s possible that Hannu Toivonen (seven periods, 2-1, 3.00, .909) has played even better. … Though they don’t seem that young a team, nine of the 25 remaining Bruins are age 25 or younger — Andrew Alberts, Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Milan Jurcina, Kalus, Kessel, Yan Stastny, Mark Stuart and Toivonen — and another nine (Brookbank, Chara, Jeff Hoggan, Mara, Wayne Primeau, Savard, Brad Stuart, Petr Tenkrat and Thomas) are 26-30 years old. Four are rookies (Kalus, Kessel, Stastny and Mark Stuart).